MOUNTAIN PARTRIDGE. 
jE the western slopes of the Coast Range in Cali- 
fornia and Oregon, the line of its habitat inclining 
more to the eastward as it goes north, this beautiful bird 
has a rather restricted dispersion, even in the States which 
are its home. It has been introduced into the State of 
Washington, and appears to have secured a permanent 
foothold north of Seattle. A few crossed to the north of 
the Columbia, but on the south bank of that river the 
species has worked its way down as far as Astoria. 
This Quail is rather abundant in the Willamette Valley, 
Oregon, and common in certain parts of California, but 
is very rare south of San Francisco, though it is occasion- 
ally met with in flocks of the California Partridge. It 
seeks moist districts and places where the rainfall is fre- 
quent. It is a shy bird, not easily found, and the flock 
runs along the ground for quite a distance before taking 
wing, and then scatters in every direction. The male 
has a kind of crowing note, and when a flock becomes 
separated its members call to each other in tones similar 
to the note of a hen turkey. This species is not very gre- 
garious; that is to say, it goes in small companies of per- 
haps twelve to twenty, but is never seen in such great 
congregations as those in which the California Partridge 
is accustomed to assemble. The female calls her brood 
by clucking like the common hen, and the little creatures 
are great adepts at hiding on the least approach of danger. 
The food of the Mountain Partridge is like that of all its 
relatives, seeds and insects of various kinds, and it some- 
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